two weeks from today

Two weeks from today I'll be taking my final exams for NUR100 and Nur105, and my first semester of nursing school will be O-V-E-R!

Just this morning I had myself quitting and going to work as a medical assistant. I did graduate from a MA program in 1998, and all I'd need to do is re-up my credentials. Why do I have to be so wishy washy?

For one I'd like to be bringing home a paycheck...right now!

This isn't the first time I've swayed against my current career/college path.

So what's the problem? Fear? Fatigue? Sheer laziness? Self-doubt? Who knows? The things that keep me going are the possibilities that are out there. I also don't want May 2010 to come around and I reflect on what could have been.

I don't want the next year and a half to go by too fast-because I want to see my kids grow. Then I just want it to be over with.

That's enough whining for now. I suppose I'll go watch House and then study for my skills assessment tomorrow.

where do you work?

I was reading this article on non-traditional nursing, since this aspect of nursing intrigues me. If I do start out my career in a hospital I do not foresee it lasting forever there.

I'd like to hear from everyone, about where you work, or where you have worked. Any nurses out there in blogworld who do non-traditional nursing?

what now?

Wow, I'm sort of speechless.

I was just on my psychology classroom website, going over what's expected of us from here on out. I finished all of my assignments, so really all that is left is my final exam. That's it.

I've been going to this school for oh, about 7 years now. Graduation is something I have yearned for and never thought would happen. In 29 days I will officially graduate and be finished. I will walk at commencement in May, because our school only holds one commencement ceremony.

What next? That's actually a pretty dumb question considering nursing school and all! But that's how I felt after looking over my grades. Three things still need to be graded, two of which are solely for extra credit.

I have an A in the class, and have contemplated not taking the final. Of course, that is totally out of my character-but it's tempting to go out with a bang! No, I will take it because in some sort of weird way it will provide closure.

The real test will be containing my excitement long enough to walk out of the room, so as not to disturb the other test takers!

brains and feet

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go.
-Dr. Seuss

I must get busy!

Today I must use my feet to step out and do some Christmas shopping. I've done none up until last night, when I bought my sons their first gift...it's the big one for the year, and I can't share what it is just in case they happen to read this. WHich is a fat chance...an ice cube's chance in hell...wildebeest's chance in a lion's lair on the Kalahari...

I also must replenish our supply of edibles and family staples. This means a trip to the commissary, which I hate, but the prices are the best, especially now that gas has dropped in price (it takes me about 45 minutes to get there, because of distance).

After I've arrived home, and put everything away it is time to get busy using my brain!!! I must study, study, study!

question about drugs...

...study aids that is! We're starting pharmacology next semester, and there's no time like the present to start a good study guide arsenal!

I've heard Davis Drug cards are great to use. What do you recommend? I'm having trouble finding any Davis Drug cards on Amazon, but have found the following three. The Pharm Phlash cards received the best reviews on Amazon.






Any other recommended study aids?

craving mad

We made it home this afternoon after three delightful days spent in NJ.

Wednesday we spent relaxing, and then went out to dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse, with my father-in-law, his girlfriend, and a family we're friends with. They also have two boys, but their's are younger than ours. They're hilarious kids though! For instance, when my husband was down in the den, the younger one (6 year old) happened to walk in and my husband asked, "Who the hell are you?" Low and behold if the little guy didn't repeat the question verbatim, and with just as much gusto as my husband! The things kids say! That's not the worst of it. Sure, my husband shouldn't have said "hell", but that pales in comparison to some of the other things these kids said!


Thursday ended up being far more enjoyable than I would've ever guessed it could have, considering we spent it with a few people we'd never met before. We went to my father-in-law's girlfriend's house. Her son, her daughter, the daughter's husband were also there. Everyone was really nice and got along quite well.

I took a book bag with me containing my psych book and my nursing book. Did they ever see the light of day? Nope! I'll be getting back into full swing...starting tomorrow.

Today I've spent recovering from last night. I went and spent the day with some friends we had been stationed with a while back. We had a great time hanging out, eating Thanksgiving leftovers, and drinking wine.


I drank a little too much! The hangover started in the middle of the night, and lasted well into our drive home today. I was able to sleep it off, but have still not felt 100%. So I'm spending the day doing some more relaxing, which will probably be very good for me to prepare me for the next two weeks.

This week I have to do the last assignments for my psych class, and my FINAL final for my B.S. is Friday night! You probably already knew this since I've mentioned it a zillion times! Tuesday my group does our presentation for Nur100, and Wednesday is my last skills test. This one is O2 administration, trach care, urine specimen collection, and blood glucose testing. After this week I'll just be studying for my nursing class finals on the 16th.

All this and I have yet to buy a single Christmas present! Yikes! Tomorrow I'll probably go do my grocery shopping, along with some Christmas shopping. Then I"ll come home, put everything away, and start studying for everything!

About that craving, it has to do with hormones I would venture to guess. I take Quasense, a generic form of Seasonale, which is one of the birth control pill choices where the woman has only 4 periods a year. I take this sort of pill because I get menstrual migraines. So I take it to avoid having the migraines monthly. Because I've been so busy with classes, and other life matters I haven't taken the time to really sit back and think about it, but that's something I should add to my to-do list for break, and that would be figuring out how effective this really is. I still get the headaches pretty frequently, and usually at about 6 weeks prior to when I'm supposed to have my period.

That's not all, here it is a month away and I am having insane chocolate cravings! It all drives me mad!

STBTF Tuesday and a Happy Turkey Day to you!

Well the family and I are heading out in the wee hours of the morning for New Jersey. My husband's family lives there, so we'll be spending Turkey Day with my Father-in-Law, his girlfriend, and her family.



First thing I'm thankful for today: Not having to do anything but show up and eat, when normally I'd be cooking my butt off! This year with everything (nursing school, my upcoming FINAL final for my B.S., etc.) going on I am happy to hand over the reins to someone else!



Second thing I'm thankful for today: My group came over today, and we finished the PowerPoint for our presentation, and it looks great! Now all that's left is presenting it in class on the 2nd. Easy Peasy!



Third thing I'm thankful for today: The health of me and mine! This year I've seen people lose loved ones. Our loved ones should be never taken for granted, so I'm thankful to be surrounded by people whom I love, who love me, and everyone is healthy-for the most part. We all have our vices that reduce our healthfulness! Chocolate anyone?



That's about all for now. I'm not sure when I'll be back on, so I'm hoping everyone has a safe, and happy Thanksgiving!

made some changes

let me know what you think of my new banner! I made it all by my lonesome!

I'd also like to add something else I'd like to do, to the list I made in the post earlier today. I'd like to catch up on the books I've been meaning to read. Wouldn't you know each and every one of them is about nurses!

The first is Nurses: The Human Touch by Michael Brown, R.N. I started reading it earlier in the semester when I thought I had some time. Ha! I did get halfway through it!

Next we have, A Nurse's Story: Life, Death, and In-Between in an Intensive Care Unit by Tilda Shalof.

My final selection is, Touched by a Nurse: Special Moments that Transform Lives by Jim Kane and Carmen Germaine Warner. This and Nurses: The Human Touch are both anthologies.

Since I'm not going to study for the rest of the evening I just may go curl up in bed with Nurses, well and the hubby, too! He'll be thrilled, I'm sure!

all i want to do

Some things I'd like to do during my upcoming winter break, Dec 17th to Jan 11th:

*clean out my closet
*give old clothes to Goodwill
*clean LB's room (he does it himself, but this will be a thorough "Ought oh! Mom's been here!" type of clean.)
*scrapbook the rest of LB's book
*clean out arts n' crafts stuff
*go through AW's clothing and ditch what he doesn't or won't wear
*organize bookshelves
*tell everyone I see that I just finished my B.S. degree
*clean up and organize the computer room
*decorate for Christmas
*spend time with family and friends
*bake holiday goodies
*relax
*relax
*relax

Nothing fancy, just some stuff that has been neglected over this past semester.

finished! finito! terminado! fini!

Yep! I just finished the huge project we've been working on all semester in our online psych class...you know the class...the one that is my ticket to my B.S.!? We collaboratively worked in lab groups, albeit online (yes, very difficult at times), on a lab report, as well as a psychology lab poster.

Our hypothesis was that although as we age our reaction time slows, physical acitivity will have a positive effect, reducing reaction time speeds. It was a quasi-experiment and nothing to get worked up over, except for dealing with partners you don't see face-to-face. We used the Fastball Reaction Time Test as our reaction stimulus. It simulates a baseball player swinging at a ball, and measures how fast you click the mouse when you see "swing batter" come across the screen. Give it a try! We did ten trials for both our dominant hand, and our non-dominant hand.

STBTF
What do you think I'm thankful for? You've got it! Having this hurdle out of the way, and being one step closer to my B.S. makes me so happy, and for that I'm thankful!!